So there we were, an admittedly partisan crowd, waiting for Joe Six-pack’s sister to bomb. Endless repeats of her embarrassing interviews with Katie Couric had left us with unrealistic expectations. Tina Fey’s work on Saturday Night Live hadn’t helped. Nor had the musings of MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow. We were expecting a train […]
2008
Posted inBusiness
Developing leaders for uncertain times
Few can doubt that we are experiencing uncertain economic times. Martin Wolf, Economics Editor of the Financial Times describes the financial crisis in the West as “a turning point in the world financial system”, while Alan Greenspan, rather more gloomily, predicated that “the financial crisis in the US is likely to be judged in retrospect […]
Posted inGeneral
Perestroika, SA style
After eight years of the theatre of the absurd ordinary South Africans generally welcomed Kgalema Motlanthe’s address to the nation as a breath of sanity. After the denialism, delusions and paranoia of the Mbeki era, simple commonsense and goodwill has rarely sounded so good. But while we count our blessings, a note of caution should […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Kgalema Motlanthe: great speeches we’d like to see
One of the columnists I really love reading is the Mail & Guardian’s Guy Berger. At least with him you are guaranteed not to land up with same old, same old and this week’s column, entitled “Kgalema vs Thabo: Workmanship in wordsmithing”, is no exception. www.mg.co.za/article/2008-10-02-kgalema-vs-thabo-workmanship-in-wordsmithing Of course all of us are, to a lesser […]
Posted inLifestyle, Media
African artists glorify poverty for white tourist appeal
If you arrived at the Johannesburg Art Gallery today hoping to see the celebration of national progress and African achievement, you would truly be very disappointed. One of South Africa’s renowned visual artists, Kay Hassan, has mounted his latest exhibition titled Urbanation. This makes it hold the promise of a rebirth, a renaissance, a new […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Is Gwede Mantashe fit to hold office of Secretary General of the ANC?
The office of the Secretary General of the ANC has previously been occupied by illustrious men of unquestionable intellect and character such as Sol Plaatjie (1876-1932), James Calata (1895-1983), Oliver Tambo (1917-1993), Duma Nokwe (1927-1978) and Walter Sisulu (1912-2003); men who upheld their duty to serve with determined purpose of unifying the membership of the […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Mbeki should have taken the nation to his confidence …
INEVITABLY, the decision by the ANC’s national executive committee to recall former president Thabo Mbeki was always going to be controversial. But perhaps, depending on which school of thought you come from, it has exposed some deep-seated fault lines in our body politic that will help the country as it continues molding a new society […]
Posted inLifestyle
Mom’s taxi in China
The photo in this blog shows a typical sight at about seven thirty in the morning in many parts of China. Mom taking her child to school. The lorry bicycle is not just a form of transport, like the BMWs or Mercedes moms use to take their children to St Stithians or Brescia House in […]
Posted inNews/Politics
‘Die rooi gevaar’: the very antithesis of democracy
Following the first phase of the Russian Revolution, Josef Stalin (1878-1953) engaged in a systematic propaganda campaign for the consolidation of power and assertion of authority, as well as establishing a heroic image of himself through expression of most dissolute flattery and unquestioning praise. Stalin was presented to the unsuspecting masses as “man of the […]
Posted inNews/Politics
USS Theodore Roosevelt: one of our aircraft carriers is missing
I can just imagine those Capetonians when the USS Theodore Roosevelt, a massive aircraft carrier, docks in Table Bay on Friday. “Like shwow bru, I’m so happy with that shit I scored in Sea Point last night hey! It’s amazing; this morning when I woke up it looked like the mountain was in the bay […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Shilowa resignation: Is there enough space for divergent views in the ANC?
This week’s Talkback question on the Mail & Guardian Online: Shilowa resignation: Is there enough space for divergent views in the ANC?
Posted inGeneral
If it doesn’t show up on Google, does it exist?
In honour of Google’s 10th birthday, the company has released their oldest available search index to the public. You can search on it and it will provide results based on 2001 data. It is very interesting to note the differences in the results that show up on the pages and how much change there has […]